To celebrate its homegrown hero, Rhode Island governor Donald L. Carcieri proclaimed today to be "G.I. Joe Day." And to help you celebrate, here's a quickie 10 Neat Facts about G.I. Joe:
1. G.I. Joe owes its existence to Barbie. That's right - in 1963, toy creator Stan Weston thought that since Barbie was so popular, he could come up with a similar toy for boys: a line of Barbie-sized dolls with military theme to be marketed for boys. He brought the concept to toy manufacturer Hassenfeld Brothers (who later shortened the name to Hasbro).
Three prototypes were created: "Rocky the Marine", "Skip the Sailor", and "Ace the Pilot."
2. G.I. = "Government Issue"
Four original G.I. Joe action figures released in 1964, plus the black soldier who followed in 1965. Source: Hasbro
3. The name G.I. Joe itself came from a 1945 American war film called The Story of G.I. Joe, starring Ernie Pyle and Robert Mitchum.
4. World's First Action Figure. Because they thought that boys wouldn't play with dolls, Hasbro coined the words "action figure" to market the toy.
5. The first G.I. Joe product, G.I. Joe: America's Moveable Fighting Man has 21 points of articulation, which is actually patented.
6. G.I. Joe has a scar across his right cheek. This enables Hasbro to copyright its toys, because otherwise the human figure itself cannot be copyrighted.
7. In 1967, Hasbro introduced its first female Joe: G.I. Nurse Action Girl. It was a spectacular failure ... and is now one of the world's most sought-after collectible:
In 1967, Hasbro expanded the line to include a series of talking figures, and Hasbro Canada produced a Canadian Mounties set. That year also saw the release of the fabled G.I. Nurse Action Girl, a doll so rare that certain models mint-in-box can bring up to $6,000 on today’s collectors’ market.
"The G.I. Joe Nurse is so valuable today because it was released for only one year," says Sharon Korbeck, editorial director of Toy Shop, a biweekly magazine aimed at toy collectors. "The figure didn’t do very well because boys weren’t interested in a female doll, and girls weren’t interested in anything related to G.I. Joe."
Sales also suffered because toy store managers didn’t know how to position the doll. Some put her with the G.I. Joe action figures, while others stocked her next to Barbie and her friends. Either way, 50% of the prospective market was lost.
8. In the wake of the Vietnam War, Hasbro dropped the military-theme and rebranded the line as "Adventure Team."
9. Bullet Man, the weirdest G.I. Joe ever
From Plaidstallions, which has a lot more fun G.I. Joe catalog pages from the 70s
In 1976, to compete with the superhero toy craze, Hasbro added a superhero to its G.I. Joe line up: Bullet Man, the Human Bullet. Collectors didn't like it then (Joe's enemy was a caveman from outer space!), but given its rarity, Bullet Man is now highly valuable.
10. "Knowing is Half the Battle" - The G.I. Joe catchphrase came from its cartoon series in the 1980s. At the end of each episode, there was a public-service message showing kids in a situation where they did something wrong and Joes giving advice. The PSA always ended with the phrase "Now we know!" "And knowing is half the battle!" Joe Headquarters has a list of these PSAs.
If knowing is half the battle, what's the other half? Your choices are "unbridled violence," porkchop sandwiches, or this T-Shirt from Nerduo.
